Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-03

plete it. Dobson, who had come to be
my general adviser. told me to change
the plasterers, and did. They prom
ised to come OH q certain Monday, and
kept their word pretty well, being only
two weeks late. In five days they put
the scratch coat on.
PAINTERS AND TRIMMERS.
Now, will you go right ahead and
put the other two coats on | asked the
boss mason.
On, no, he replied with a smile,
that wouldn't do. This coat has to
stand three weeks to dry, and then We
put the second coat on. After that has
stood for three weeks we can put on the
hard finish. The hard finish does not
need to stand more than a fortnight be-
fore the trimmers can go to work.
"Three weeks and three are six and
two are eight. That brought it 10 the
middle OF December. Then for the
trimmers, whatever they might be.
asked Dobson.
The trimmers, he told me. are the
men who put on the fancy work inside
make the door and window castings, tit
up the bathroom, finish the closets and
pantries, and do all the fine work in.
side.
II had noticed that the plastering did
not join ON to the woodwork very well,
but did not know " hat was TO be done
to it. l asked how long the trimming
would take.
"'Well, should keep about eight or
ten men at it, Dobson replied, 'and they
can do it 10 six weeks
"They might have, perhaps. if the
Christmas holidays had not broke them
all up, as they said. As it was they
took eight weeks to it, That brought
us past the middle of February. l for.
got to say that we hung the outside
doors while the plasterers were at work.
and that the moisture from the plastt r,
combined with the heat from the fur
mace, which we put in few weeks later,
warped them into such fantastic shapes
that had the pleasure of buying com.
plete new set of outside doors. They
burned up eight tons of coal for me,
warming up the house through the win.
ter. The furnance at first would not
draw at all; then it filed the house with
gas, and when the masons tore down
about half of one of the chimneys to fix
it they found that the smoke pipe had
been put in the wrong fue. and that it
was little short of a miracle that we had
not been burned out.
81 have forgotten to say anything
about the little episode of the stairbuild.
ers. In my innocence l supposed the
carpenters would build the stairs, stairs
being made of wood. But was greatly
mistaken.
THE sTAIRBUILDERs.
"'That is also separate branch,
Dobson told me. You will have 10 go
to - and order the kind of stair you
want, and they will send men from the
factory to put them up
''No more could the carpenters build
my wooden mantels. Oh, no! At a
great cost of time and trouble / obtained
catalogue of concern in the city that
makes speciality of n,antels. could
have them of wood, iron, marble, slate.
composition, bronze, or almost any ma.
terial desired. There were pictures of
several hundred different styles aud the
cheapest presentable ones cost something
over $50 each. Then l had to select
newell posts; and in some inexplicable
manner l became possessed of cata-
logue containing pictures of few hun.
dred newell posts. Perhaps you know
what they are? A newell post is big
fancy post that ends the balusters at
the foot Of stairway.
Zone thing gave me some uneasiness,
and l do not feel quite right about it
yet. noticed that the big horizontal
timbers forming the base of the frame
work of the house were just laid OH the
top of the foundation. without being
fastened on in any way. spoke to
Dobson about it, and he laughed, and
said he didn't believe the house would
jump off; that he had built good many
houses and had never heard any com.
plant of their coming off the founda-
tions. Invent and look ed at other frame
houses and saw that they were all made
the same way. But still 1t seemed to
me, and indeed it does yet, that the
house and the foundation ought to be
fastened together in some way. Suppose
one of those Charleston earthquakes
should come up this way; what is to
prevent our sliding off,
''At last the proud day arrived when
Dobson told me to engage a plumber.
After visiting several, l came to terms
with one. and he came in to see the
house. showed him what we wanted;
tank in the attic to hold no less than
300 gallons Of water; shower and tub
and wash.basin in the bathroom; hot and
cold water at the kitchen sink; hot and
cold water. too, for the stationary tubs
In the cellar, and force pump in the
kitchen to supply the water.
"'Yes,' he replied. where do you
get the water?'
"Yes, where, indeed! That was a
trifiing detail that had altogether es.
capped my attention. But promised to
have well dug at once, and meanwhile
he could be putting in the pipes.
THE PLUMBER STILL AT IT.
"'It will cost considerably more to
put in the pipes now,' he told me, than
it would had they been put in while the
trimmers were at work, for some OF their
work will have to be torn out Bat it
was too late to remedy that. That the
well caved in when it was nearly
finished, and that it took two weeks to
dig it out again Including four days
that the iiggers took to celebrate some.
body's birthday. l do not consider my
fault.
"It was we'll on to the lst of April
before the plumbing was done, the range
set and the tank full of water. will
not try to tell you how long the plumbers
stuck to that pump trying to make it
work. Anyhow, they are at it yet, and
after experimenting with everything
else under the sun, they have made me
buy the sand-trap you saw me bring
home tonight. 1t did begin to look,
though, as If the house would soon be
finished. But there were still few
mechanics of different sorts to be hunted
up. The furnaceman, for instance, con.
tinued his labors in the cellar at inter-
walls, trying to make the wretched thing
draw. The plumbers were forever and
afernallv tinkeripp at the Dump and